Warriors-Timberwolves reaction: Time for Steph Curry & Golden State to make a trade? | Hoops Tonight

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We gotta jam packed show for you tonight. The Warriors once again struggling on the road in the Minnesota Timberwolves picking up their sixth win in eight tries without Rudy Gobert. We're gonna spend some time talking about the Wolves, their overall team structure, the Warriors, how what to make of these struggles continuing on the road. Uh Draymond Green somehow slipping beneath the radar with a quote to Taylor Taylor Rooks a couple of weeks ago about his free agency.

I have some thoughts there. We're gonna do do a little bit of a deep dive on the Portland Trailblazers and how I think they can make one last attempt to try to get Damian Lillard in a position where he can compete for championship, and then Last but not Least, George Jamal Crawford had some thoughts about Luca and James Harden that I wanted to dive into. You guys know the drill before we get started. Subscribed to the Volumes YouTube channel so you don't miss any more of our videos.

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the show. It's been a wild year. It's been a ton of fun. It's been super fun to see it grow and I've really enjoyed interacting with you guys and finding out what you guys like in building the show around the way that we like to talk about basketball. And I'm really excited to continue to build that with you guys over the next couple of years. So cheers to one year and cheers to hopefully many more years

to come. Um, all right, let's talk some basketball. So I thought the Warriors soundly outplayed the Wolves for the most part tonight, but then they're right in the middle of the fourth quarter, De'angelo Russell got just obnoxiously hot from three to the point where it didn't matter what defense the Warriors were playing. That last step three hit was very well contested, and he just knocked it down.

And it's funny because, you know, as the league has changed, one of the super unique ways that the league has changed is because of the high volume of three point shots, not just in catch and shoot situations, but primarily in uh, you know, primary ball handler situations, pull up threes, or the ability to get too spots and kick to wide open shooters. No game is ever over. You know, a team that defends as well as Golden State does, and I thought Golden State for the most part defended really

well tonight. For a team that defends as well as they do, you expect that game to be over. If you're up double digits in the fourth quarter in control but in the n b A, all it takes now is one guy getting hot. And that's the weird thing is like, these shots are so difficult, but when the footwork is dialed in, when the rhythm and the energy transfers dialed in, when that release is dialed in, there's

not really anything you can do. And the Warriors basically had their hands tied of buying their back is Dangel Russell slapped them, uh to get back into the game. And then from there that's where they snapped into those old Warriors where they were sloppy, you know, turning the basketball over, taking bad shots. Um, a couple of missed key rebounds there down the stretch. That's where it started to look, you know, because I had one of my

friends swipe. But who covers the Denver Nuggets huge Nicola Yokich fan I went on his show last week. He said, he asked me after the game, he goes, at what point is this who the Warriors are? And it's funny because, you know, generally speaking, one of evaluating teams that don't have a championship pedigree, I look a lot at what you do during the regular season, But with the Warriors, I do want to give them a lot more benefit of the doubt. I feel like they've earned that over

the course of the last decade or so. Um. But you know, the reality is that it is concerning that given the situation with the urgency, given the opportunity to string together a wind streak that you know, basic details at the end of the game got sloppy for the Warriors and what was a very winnable game. I'm gonna talk a lot about the Wolves, and the Wolves I thought out played Golden State from an effort standpoint down

the stretch, I thought they deserved to win. And we're gonna talk a little bit about their team structure, and they have a lot of reasons to be optimistic. But the reality is is like that, like Delo fouled out, Anthony Edwards more or less had an off night. You know, Rudy go bears out, nobody really can create a shot. You should win that game, and you didn't. And I thought, in a lot of ways that came down to those

specific details. I wanted to shout out a couple of specific Wolves, and then we're gonna talk about um A, Minnesota's team structure a little bit. Nazri when it was getting trapped and being forced to give up a basketball a lot. And then when Dillo finally cooled off after his hot streak, somebody needed to create a shot for Minnesota, and Nazare did. He had a really nice post move on Draymond Green, a really nice left handed hook in the lane, and then a picking pop possession on the

left wing. He pumped, baked, got Draymond to fly by, and knocked down a three. It was a huge play. And then unfortunately for Nasred, he got three additional wide open looks, two at the end of regulation and one in ot that he missed, and I'm sure he was kicking himself and he missed that last three there in the corner, but Draymond missed the box out and Nazrie got the basketball, and I'm sure it felt good to have that vicious one handed dunk along the baseline to

tie things off. I think Nazrie has done a really nice job from Minnesota this year. It hasn't always showed up on the scoreboard, but this team does have a lot of funkiness going on, and don't I don't put it all on him, um. And then Anthony Edwards in ot again after d Low fouled out. Even despite the traps, he just said screw it, I'm just gonna attack Andrew

Wiggins and made a play to avoid those traps. When you call in those screening actions, you know, there's a one way to look at it, which is like, oh, I'm creating an advantage for my team because I'm drawing a second defender that gives me the ability to put the other team in rotate in a four on three. But you know, sometimes in a situation like that, especially for a really good defensive team like the Warriors, you're not gonna get great stuff out of that four on three.

So you're almost better off with your With Anthony Edwards, you're superstar going head to head with their best perimeter defender and trying to make a play. And he did, and then he had another really nice left handed layup uh in transition again, and with everything with him, I think it's gonna come down to his pull up jump shot in the long run. I think he's going to have to get to the point where he is reliable

with that pull up jump shot. It has not been this season, after it was towards the end of last season and after he knocked down a bunch of him in the playoffs. That's the thing. I'm gonna keep an eye on him with his development. So Minnesota's one six out of eight. You know, a lot of times when I'm doing the show, I come up with a theme that kind of ties a bunch of specific topics together. Like yesterday we were talking about talent when teams have

to put their foot on the gas. Tonight, I want to talk about defensive front courts and um, you know, when we when we look at Minnesota in particular, they made a trade that I actually kind of fundamentally agree with from the standpoint of strategy, which is we need to get a lockdown, you know, anchor, like a foundational anchor. With Rudy Gobert. I just disagreed in the sense that I thought they overpaid, And then the actual structure of the team around Gobert reminded me of a bunch of

the Utah Jazzy. They their core lineup still featured a bunch of poor perimeter defensive players, and I didn't think they had the level of offensive skill they needed to thrive with two bigs on the floor. But the Rudy Gobert piece is very important. And this is where I want to take a look back, because we're gonna talk about Rudy Gobert, We're gonna talk about um Draymond Green, and we're gonna talk about Usef Nurkics. Three centers in

the NBA today. And you know what's funny is if you look back through NBA history and he's just look at champions, Every single champion in recent NBA history has a very very very good defensive front court, either at the center position or both the center and the power forward position. Right last year, I've got Draymond Green, one of the top, you know, four or five defensive players of all time, alongside Kevon Looney. The year before, I've got Brook Lopez and Jana Santenna Coupo, two of the

best rim protectors in the NBA. The year before that, i've got Lebron James and Anthony Davis. The year before that, I've got Kawhi Leonard, Serge Ibaka and Marcusol when they would play big. The year before that, i've got Katie and Draymond. The year before that, I've got Katie and Draymond. The year before that, I've got Lebron James and Tristan Thompson and Kevin Love, and Lebron obviously defensively at that point, was a much better player. Before that, I've got Draymond

Green before that. I've got Tim Duncan before that. I've got Lebron and Chris Bosh before that, I've got Tyson Schaidler before that, Pau Gasol. You know, It's just the reality is, as we go back through NBA history, you need to be not just good defensively in the front court, but you need to be great defensively in the front court. And that's an important theme that we're gonna keep coming back to during tonight's show. So I understand and I

respect the move to go after Rudy Gobert. I just disagreed with the overall team plan, and I'm really curious to see which direction they go at this deadline and moving forward in the coming summers, because there's a bunch of things As a Wolves fan to be very excited about. Anthony Edwards is one of my favorite young players in the league, and I think he is on a superstar trajectory.

He reminds me of the two guard version of Lebron just an unstoppable, bullyball downhill player that hopefully we'll pick up enough pull up shooting to be able to balance it all out when it comes to slow down half court environments. But then I've also got that foundational defensive

center and Rudy Gobert. And yes, he's got offensive limitations, We've talked about that, but he's so damn good defensively that I think it's you know, worth it in the aggregate as long as you have the right players around it. And then we look at the rest of the roster, and you know, look at the job that Kyle Anderson did tonight blocking shots at the rim and using his length to cause problem for the problems for the Warriors. Look at the job Jada McDaniels did tonight on Steph Curry.

You know, by the end of that game, Steph was exhausted. That last three that he took that could have tied the game in overtime didn't get any lift on it. You could see it look funky from the standpoint of his energy transfer. Now, a lot of that's because his injury and he doesn't have the uh, you know, the conditioning that he had before his injury. That's gonna take another week or two. That's normal. But a lot of it was that physicality and the ball pressure that Jada

McDaniels applied all night long. Both of those guys too, represents two specific types of forwards that I always talked about, Jade McDaniels that skinnier, faster forward and Kala Anderson a little bit slower but bigger, taller, longer. They've got a lot of things tied together. But you know, you guys know, I'm not a huge d'angela Russell fan. His pull up jump shot, you know, tends to fail him against really good defenses, in large part because he's got a low release.

He doesn't elevate very high. He's kind of a set shooting, uh, pull up jump shooters. So that's that's and then I don't think he's very good defensive players. So I think D'Angel Russell is a kind of a funky fit. And then you've got this Carl Town's thing. But the way that I would look at it, foundationally, I've got aunt found Nationally, i've got Rudy Gobert, I've got my wings. I need backup ball handling and shooting that fits within what we what the Wolves are trying to do, within

their scheme. That's why I'd be looking at this deadline for you know, there's a bunch of guys that are available. Be looking at guys like Jordan Clarkson from the Utah Jazz. I think he can be got um, you know, I think he's achievable, like guys like Terry Rogier. You know. Um. The other thing you could do is you could look to be much more aggressive. I don't know if you're gonna be able to do it at this deadline, but maybe at some point in the future for a star

level ball handler and flip Carl Towns for him. There's going to be some team around the league that's gonna value what Carl Town's does. Um. That team will then be dealing with the same front core defense problems that we're talking about. But maybe they don't see it that way and they see a bunch of value on Carl Towns. But that type of flip might be something that allows for the right amount of ball handling and shooting alongside

that core to make it work. But make no mistake those two pieces that that uh Anthony Edwards and Rudy Gobert. With the type of wing defense that they have, They're close. They just need to figure out their backup ball handling. So um, talking a little bit of Warriors again, I thought the Warriors actually played a great game until D'Angelo

Russell's hot streaks. So I don't want to be too negative as it pertains to their road struggles, because I think they were a little shell shocked and then a bunch of things didn't go their way down the stretch.

I mean, even at the end of regulation, Steph comes over a pick and roll gets a wide open pull up fifteen foot or they got a lot of wide open shots down the stretch in the fourth quarter for Steph because of guard to guard actions and the fact that UH Minnesota really did not want to switch Jaden McDaniels in those screens because they weren't switching. He was getting caught on those little ghost screens or guard to guard screens, and Steff was getting a lot of really

good looks. I would venture to guess that on that type of separation, Steff is shooting close to if not better, on pull up twos when he's that open. So again, I want to stay positive. He that's as good a look as you're gonna get at the end of a game. It just didn't go in, you know, and and it sometimes it goes like that. But I am disappointed been

their overall execution down the stretch. But to um that question, at what point do we accept the Warriors are the Warriors are who they show us during the regular season. I'm gonna wait till the playoffs. I'm sorry, as long as they're in there. If they're in the I don't care. If they're the eight seed, I don't care if they have to win a playing game. If they're going on the road and they're playing Denver and they're at full health, I'll be picking Golden State to win that series. I'm sorry.

I've seen too much from Steph Clay, Jordan Pool, Draymond Green, Kavan Looney, and Andrew Wiggins. I've seen too much from that group to think that suddenly in the last year they forgot how to play basketball. They have some urgency issues, they got some execution issues, they got some things they got ironed out, Make no mistake. But if if you want to bet against them, be my guest. I'm not

gonna be that guy. I'm going to continue to give the benefit of the doubt to the team that I've seen time and time again do what it takes to get the trophy. That said, there was a little interview that was going around earlier today. It was either today or yesterday, but Bob Myers is on local Golden State Radio and uh, a really good interview question. Um, I wish I should have wrote down who the gentleman was,

so I apologize on that front. But he said, do you want to make a trade at the deadline or do you need to make a trade at the deadline? And Bob Meyer's basically said both, But when he elaborated on it, what he said is I don't like our margin for error right now. And you've heard me use that phrase a lot on this show, and the concept behind that phrases these teams are all super good. Boston's amazing, Milwaukee is amazing, Brooklyn when they're healthy is amazing, Philly

is amazing, Denver is amazing. All these teams are good. You're you're going to have to be very very good to win, and even if you are, you're probably gonna win by this much. So there is not a lot of margin for error and what he talked about was like back in two thousand seven and seventeen and two thousand eighteen, if you would have asked me that same question, I would have said, no, we don't need to make a trade because our margin for error was where he

was comfortable. And so that's where I look at this, Like, even if Steph and Raymond and Kevon Looney and Andrew Wiggins and all those guys get it together, they're not as deep as they were last year, and some of the teams they played have gotten better, and some of the teams they're going to play weren't in the mix last year, so their margin for air is significantly smaller. And that's why, like one bench piece here, I saw Jared Vanderbilt get thrown out as an option in the

trade market for the Warriors. I love that idea, just another big lanky, athletic forward, that big power forward mold that can help them a lot in their bench lineups defensively and grabbing rebounds. I would like to see them make a deal because this margin for error isn't something that I would be comfortable with, and I understand why Bob Myers feels that way, but it is time for them to pick it up, because again, your margin for

air shrinks based on your matchup quality. I would pick Golden State to win against Denver in a one eight matchup, but that's a tough series. Maybe you come out of that series a little banged up, and now you gotta go play Memphis, a big, physical team, and you could have some problems there, right, So like if fatigue can pile up and things can get harder and harder as thing goes along, things go along. Now, I tweeted this

this morning, and I truly believe it. I think Golden State has more talent, the Clippers have more talent, the Lakers have more talent, and the Kings have built a little bit of a gap. So my guess is that the final six in the conference will go something like Denver, Memphis, Sacramento, Golden State, the Clippers, and the Lakers, because those teams are all gonna have to hit the jets here down

the stretch, and they all have the requisite talent. But it needs to happen eventually, and tonight you would have expected it to happen. So it's a little discouraging and I get that. Um I want to talk Draymond for a second. Somehow this one under the radar. I I saw it somewhere on Twitter randomly and I said it to Ryan, our producer, and he was like, how did we not see this over the last couple of weeks, And I was like, I don't know. The uh somehow

I didn't see it. But Taylor Rooks did an interview with Raymond Green and he said, quote unquote, she asked him to like basically about his pending free agency, and he said, quote quite frankly, the writings on the wall, I understand the business end quote. He elaborated after that to say, I would love to be a warrior. So he wants to stay, but it seems like he's expecting, or at least preparing himself for emotional, emotionally for something

for him to potentially have to go elsewhere. And just in terms of life advice, I thought it was a really really interesting clip from Draymond. He basically talked about how, like you, you set yourself up for disappointment when you expect things, when you feel like you deserve things, And the reality is, it is a business, and it's better for you to learn the business so you can be prepared to fight for yourself. Then it is for you to just expect that you deserve something and to have

it come your way. You're gonna get heartbroken if that happens, you know what I mean. And so I thought that was a really interesting bit from Draymond Um. But anyway, this is why I wanted to bring this up tonight to come back to our original topic. Be as we were talking about front court. Here's the reality. If you let Draymond go, you're gonna be running back next year with what James Wiseman and Covan Luney. And he is a good defensive player. I think he's better on switches.

He holds up better on switches compared to most centers as opposed to as a shot blocker. I had a big block down the stretch Toady against Jay McDaniels, But he's not the best shot blocker in the world. But no matter what, a Wiseman Louney front court is going to overnight be one of the middle of the pack, if not worst defensive front courts in the Western Conference. And all we have to do is look at NBA

history to know that that's not winning anything. And the reason why it's so important foundationally, we talked about this all time. Most NBA possessions begin with a pick and roll. Your big man is the captain of the defense. He's quarterback and calling out the plays, getting guys in the right spot, calling out the coverages. His job in pick and roll is extremely difficult. He has to guard multiple defenders. He has to contain a ball handler why dealing with

the rim threat. He's gotta win contested rebound battles. He's got to run up and down the floor and transition. There's so many things that a big nan has to do is vitally important. Joel Embiid, you're think last year went on with J. J. Reddick and talked about how he thought as center absolutely must win defensive Player of the Year of a year because of their intellectual responsibilities in the defense. That's why we see those names as

I'm listing the champions in in NBA history. But here's the thing, Kef, I'm Luni's fine, but the Warriors this year with Loney on the floor and no Draymond, gave up a one eight teen defensive rating. So if that's your plan, it's gonna go poorly right now. So Here's the thing lake Up is probably thinking man like Draymond probably wants four years, twenty five million a year or something like that. I don't know exactly what he wants, but I would imagine Draymond would be comfortable around a

hundred million in a four year deal. The thing that's tricky with that is like lake Ups just thinking about luxury tax and how you know, maybe it's time to move on. But the reality is is right now, Draymond is still a top three defender in the world. That's a fact. He and Steph alone automatically make you a

championship contender. If there is a point where he declines and he's no longer worth twenty five million, it will probably be in the second half of that deal, third year, fourth year, and there's and it's not like you're not gonna be able to trade it. That's not a There's no such thing as a bad contract to million in the modern NBA because that's just salary filler. That is a vehicle with which to obtain other players. Now, if it's forty five million, yeah, that could be an albatross

and cause a bunch of problems. But Draymond, I don't know, but I doubt Draymond is out here thinking he's gonna get forty five million year. So sign the damn guy signed. He deserves it. He's still good enough, and it's the smart asset management decision. Sign him for whatever he needs, four years a hundred, twenty four years, a hundred, whatever. It's a tradeable deal. He keeps you viable as a

defensive front court in the immediate future. And if, for whatever reason it goes south, all you've paid some luxury tax because he's just gonna be a vehicle with which you can get another player, like the Warriors have first round draft picks. He's a perfect salary vehicle to make a trade. I just don't understand, uh, even considering letting him walk, Joe Lacob cannot make this mistake. You have. You have to pay Draymond and keep him around. All right,

We're gonna move on to the Blazers. So the Blazers one in Memphis tonight twelve kind of a shocking outcome. I saw this one going an entirely different way. Memphis finally ended their losing street the other night. I thought they were gonna be ready to kind of play some more serious basketball. But what's funny is ever since, ever since John Murand said nobody in the West scares him, all they've done is is games to the Western Conference,

which is a whole other thing. Memphis I continue to just view as an un serious basketball team that is destined for a second round exit. But we will see what happens. Maybe they'll prove me wrong. But Dames and I goes for eight and ten in his last eleven games. He's averaging thirty nine points per game in eight assists per game. But despite that absurd level of play, the Blazers are just six and five in the eleven game span. They're still below five hundred, and they're still out of

the West, playing game at the eleven seat. And this is not a team like the Lakers, where you're like, it's cool. Anthony Davis is on the way, No, no, no Dame has played in every game in this eleven game stretch. Anthony Simons is played in every game in this eleven game stretch. Jeremy Grant has played in every game in this eleven game stretch. Gary Payton the Second is played in almost every game. Josh Hard has played in almost every game. Use if Turkey has played in

almost every game. They are whole and bad. If you guys remember about a week or so ago, it is either a week or two go. I can't remember, but I basically talked about how if there, if there was any way that Portland could try to save this thing, it needed to start with Narkis. And again it goes back to everything I was just talking about with that defensive front court, Dame. They have all the boxes checked

except for that. They've got a super duper star. They can go toe to toe with any star in the league. Damian Lillard. We've seen him do it time and time again. They've got a good backup shot creator and Anthony Simmons. They've got another shot creator who's also that rim, pressuring forward that you guys know I like so much. And Jeremy Grant. They have outstanding perimeter defensive wings, Gary Payton

the second one of the best in the league. Jeremy Grant very very good, Josh Hart very very good defensive wing in this league. So why can't they get stops? Because of everything that we talked about earlier in the show and the responsibilities that the big man has on the floor. Now there's a couple of different names that I mentioned in that specific pod, but I keep coming back to one guy. They have to be the team

that gets super aggressive with Miles Turner. The way that Indiana structured his extension um is set up in a way, and it has something to do with the way they set up his declining salary structure. And I'm not a topologist um, but the you know, like essentially, the way they structured it makes it so that he's still trade eligible before this deadline. Now, Rick har Lyle is reported didn't even report, just came out and said in a

press conference that he's off the trading block. But you know, it's very clear that they set up the contract in a way that you know, makes him tradeable. And while I do think they view him as a solid defensive centerpiece for their guard heavy rotation, I also think that if they were given the right off or that they would still pull the triggers. So whether it's at this deadline or it's this summer, I think that Portland has to put everything down to try to go get Myles Turner.

I think he's the best readily available guy in that category. Or hey, maybe they're the team that ends up going for Draymond Grain if your lake up is foolish enough to let him go um. But they need to have somebody in that specific spot. Now, if you put Damian Lillard, Anthony Simon's, Josh Hart, Jeremy Grant, and Draymond or Miles Turner, now you're a serious basketball team. Not only that, you

know they're really bad defensively in the backcourt. Right Dame is one of the worst guard defenders in the league. Anthreonny Simon's is only okay, you know, but you simplify their responsibilities with a really good center. The problem is is when Damon, Anthony or basically just porous on the backcourt defensively, they don't have anybody on the back line they can clean things up. But when you have a real back line defensive player, defensive anchor, you actually simplify

the defensive responsibilities for Damon for anfreny. Now they can ball pressure knowing that they have safety on the back line as long as they're willing to make rotations after the fact. That's simple, Like just pressure the ball and then rotate when you get beat is a lot easier than like, if you get beat, it's game over because Usef Nurkic isn't stopping anybody at the rim. But from

there then they would cross every box. They'd have the superstar, they'd have the backup shot creation, they'd have the rim pressuring forward, they have the wing defenders, and they'd have the defensive anchor, and they have plenty of shooting. So I think that needs to be the strategy that they go with, either at this deadline or heading into next offseason. They have to at one point give Dame a shot

with a real rim protector. All right, last take before we get out here tonight, Jamal Crawford basically came out and said that, um, James Harden was doing all the same stuff Luca don Chech was doing back in two thousand and eighteen and didn't get this kind of love. Um, And this, to me is one of my least favorite takes that I see flying around and and Jamal Crawford is not the first to do it, but I see

the I see the beginning of it. There are similarities in their approach, Like James Harden is a dribble the ball off the floor, spread floor, perfect spacing principles. I'm gonna beat my man off the dribble with is so Er and can roll and basically determine the outcome of every single possession, and Luca does the same thing, although I do think Luca does it a little bit more

out of necessity because of the roster. And I'm really curious to see a phase of Luca's career where he's playing alongside a bona fide co star, which all the reporting is that Mark Cuban is basically willing to sell his soul for a star at this deadline, and that everybody's available not named Luca, to try to get that done. So we'll see what ends up happening. I'm not sure

which specific star they'd be targeting. Um, I don't think O g n and Obi moves the needle enough for them, and and He's not good enough offensively to really justify it. But we'll see what they end up doing. But like the reality is is that's the only similarity. Luca controls

every possession, James Harden controls every possession. The reason why I see a huge chasm between those two guys is James Harden in those years two thousand eighteen two thousand nineteen, he only did four things ever with the basketball, he would either make a read, make a pass right, or you should a step back three, or you get all the way the rain for la up, or you take

a short floater in the land. That was really more kind of starting in that two thousand nineteen season when he added the floater, but it was extremely repetitive, and so as a result, when they get to the postseason, it's different when you're on a random Tuesday in January showing up in Houston to play the Rockets, and you know and you're you know, you're you know, a wing defender who has that that responsibility, and it's like, oh, I gotta guard James Harden tonight. It's gonna be paid

in the ads. But in a seven game playoff series, what happens. You see him in game one, then you see him in game two, then you see him in game three, then you see him in Game four, and in a hundred possession game, James Harden is starting eighty of those possessions in a playoff series, and you're seeing the same thing every single time, and so you start to kind of pick up on the little body language cues that set up specific shots or specific moves and

you start to guard him better. We think of James Harden as a playoff underperformer or someone who struggles. But look a little deeper. I want you guys to go, just for fun, go to James Harden's game logs in two thousand eighteen and two thousand nineteen. Look at how well he performs in game one of a playoff series compared to the rest of the series. That's exactly that effect. Early in the series, he's got the advantage. As the

series progresses, he becomes more predictable. People solve him, and that's why he has so many catastrophic flameouts late in playoff series, especially when the series on the line. Now we look at Luca, he actually goes up a level in the playoffs. Why do you guys think that is? Now? Luca takes step back threes, Luca goes all the way to the rim. Luca takes floaters, but he also takes dozens and dozens and dozens and dozens of other shots.

He's got post up fadeaways over both shoulders. He's got like seventeen different types of push shots and pop shots, shots and hook shots and things in the short range. He can straight up just take a step back jumper in the mid range, a lot in ISOs. If you actually look at shot charts from Luca don John any given game. Just take a random Luca Donte shot chart from last week and compare it to a random shot

chart of James Harden in two thousand nineteen. And in James Harden, you see a lot of dots around the three point line, and you're gonna see a lot of dots right around the rim, and you're gonna see one or two dots in the paint from his floaters. Feel like a Luca. You're gonna see a bunch of shots around the top of the key. You're gonna see a few in that twenty foot range, You're gonna see a few in that fifteen foot range, You're gonna see a few in that ten foot range, and then you're gonna

see a few in the restricted area. There's variety in what he does. Now, A lot of people will say that play style can't win. I disagree. He just went to the conference finals in his early twenties without a legitimate co star Lebron James has done it several times in his career with a similar style. I think every single one of those guys when they win, has a legit backup option. Lebron could throw down Anthony Davis, he could get a basket. He could throw it to Kyrie Irving,

he could get a basket. He could throw to Bosh your Wade, they could get baskets. There's nobody at near those levels playing for Dallas, and he still has had the playoff success that he has had. James Harden has been on extremely good teams with Chris Paul at the peak of his powers flanking him, and those series were lost because James Harden could not mimic his regular season success.

That's why I look at variety a lot in that intricate shot making, that improvisational shot making with the superstars, because if you're improvisational, you're not predictable. If you're not predictable, you'll actually excel as series go longer because now you're going to solve the defensive player instead of the defensive

players solving you. That's what makes Luca Donche and James Harden so different, and I really don't feel the comparisons with them like I I feel, we'll see what happens, but I feel almost certain that Luka Dante is just gonna win multiple NBA championships. He's just too good, and he's got so many areas that he can easily improve as he matures, with his conditioning, with his effort on the defensive end. Imagine right now he's doing all this

with an absurd usage rate. Imagine what will happen when he has a legitimate flanking co star and he can be more selective with his shots and when he's tired, Like there are possessions where lucas exhausted and everyone's looking at him like you gotta make the play. If he's on the right type of roster, he won't have to do that. If he's with Chris Paul in two thousand eighteen,

he doesn't have to do that. So I I think that I don't think it's fair to put those two guys together, and I wanted to elaborate on that a little bit. All Right, guys, that is all I have for tonight. We may or may may not be back tomorrow night covering Clippers, Bucks and Nuggets Warriors. It depends on a couple of things. Because I'm getting ready to head out of town on Friday morning. But I'll keep you guys posted. Just keep an eye on my Twitter feed.

As always, I appreciate you guys support. I'll see you guys tomorrow or later this week. The volume